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Fluid-driven Transport:
Fluid plays an important role in most models of sediment transport. Thus knowledge of
hydraulics, the science of fluid flow, is essential to sedimentation and stratigraphy.
Fluids resist forces that tend to change their volume, but readily alter their shape in
response to external forces. The ability of a fluid to entrain particles is dependent on:
Density
Velocity
Viscosity (resistance to shearing)
Grain size
Density: Mass per unit volume. Typically measured in Kg/m3 or the equivalent g/cm3.
Examples:
when stressed. The more they are stressed, the more they are
deformed. For most fluids, this relationship is directly proportional
and can be written as follows:
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τ = μ*du/dy
Scaling issue -
boundary layers:
Viscosity
Veocity
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Relationships of velocity, density, viscosity and flow state are numerically described using
two dimensionless numbers:
Reynolds Number
Froude Number
Reynolds Number:
Named for British physicist Sir Osborne Reynolds, describes the relative
strength of inertial and viscous forces in a moving fluid by giving their
dimensionless ratio:
Where:
Note: The numerator shows inertial forces, or the tendency of discrete particles
of fluid to resist changes in velocity and continue to move uniformly in the same
direction. The denominator - viscosity, or resistivity to shearing or deformation.
The transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs between Re of 500
and 2000. Typically, we see:
Ultimately, the
Rain on windshield from BetterPhoto.com
Reynolds number
addresses the
behavior of the
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boundary layer.
Consider the
familiar example
of raindrops on
the windshield of
a moving car:
At low
speed,
raindrops
roll downhill
on the
windshield
under the
influence of
gravity. They
can do this
because the
vehicle is
operating at a low Reynolds number so its boundary layer is thick enough
completely to encompass the raindrops.
At higher speeds (and higher Reynolds numbers), the raindrops begin to
move upward because the boundary layer has become thin enough that
the drops are poking out of it and being blown by the surrounding medium.
At very high speeds (don't try this at home) the drops move in random
directions because the bondary layer is now so thin that the currents of the
surrounding medium are channelled through minor irregularities of the
windshield's topography (scratches, half-cleaned birdshit stains, etc.)
Viscous forces tend to resist fluid motion, keeping flow smooth, while inertial
forces generate disordered (turbulent) motions. As such high inertial flows (Re>
5000) tend to be turbulent, and viscous flows (Re< 500) tend to be laminar.
Unconfined fluids moving across open surfaces (windstorms, surface runoff
sheet flow, very slow-moving streams, and continental ice sheets) have
Re<500-2000 and exhibit laminar flow. Fast-moving streams and turbidity
currents have Re >2000.
Fr = flow velocity/(acceleration
of gravity * force of inertia)
Fr = V/√(gD)
Where:
V=velocity
D=depth of flow
g=gravitational constant.
Consequences:
Gravity waves? Throw a stone into a standing body of water and watch the
waves move out in concentric paths. This is a gravity wave; now throw a stone
into moving water. if you can see the gravity wave move upstream then it is
faster than the velocity of the stream. Thus Fr <1 otherwise known as tranquil
flow, which is typical of most bodies of flowing water. If, however, Fr >1 then
the velocity of the stream is faster than the gravity wave and rapid flow occurs.
Particle Transport
Particle motion in flowing fluid: We care about hydraulics because of flowing fluids'
ability to transport sediment. Why, however, does this actually happen?
Whereas ions in solution are simply part of the fluid, clasts must be moved by
mechanical forces. This involves three distinct processes:
Entrainment: Particles picked up into the transport medium (water, air, etc.)
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Suspended load:
That fine portion that
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is kept in constant
suspension by
electrostatic and
viscous interactions
with the surrounding
water. Generally clay
or silt sized particles.
There is a relationship
between a stream's
velocity (energy) and the
size clast that it can
transport. Intuitively we
sense that larger clasts
need more energy to be
moved than smaller ones,
but reality is more subtle.
This is shown in the
Hjulstrom diagram, that
gives a zone of sediment
transport in black. The
upper limit is the velocity
at which a clast of a given
size is entrained, the lower
limit is the velocity at which an entrained clast is deposited.
No surprise that the smallest grains are deposited at the lowest flow velocities.
But why are sand sized particles entrained before clay particles? (See if you can
figure it out.)
Stokes' Law:
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Developed by Sir George Gabriel Stokes, An object falling through a fluid experiences
three forces:
Terminal fall velocity: The speed with which it falls is the balance of these forces.
Gravity tends to accelerate it downward, however, the laws of fluid dynamics tell us that
the faster the object falls, the more drag it experiences, slowing it down. Eventually it
reaches a settling rate, a point at which drag and bouyancy balance gravitational
acceleration, the terminal fall velocity (Fd).
Stokes calculated the fall velocity for small particles, < 0.1 mm diameter. First, consider
the frictional resistance that the fluid offers to movement of a settling sphere:
Fd = Cdπ(d2/4)(ρf V2/2)
where:
Fg = 4/3 π(d/2)3ρsg
Fup = 4/3π(d/2)3ρfg
V2 = 4gd(ρs - ρf)/3Cdρf
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If the temperature and fluid density are constant and the sphere and fluid densities
known then this equation can be simplified significantly using the Reynolds number
relationship to:
V = Cd2
The punchline: In words, with density and viscosity constant, velocity increases as the
square of grain diameter.
If we rotate the arrangement 90 degrees: With density and viscosity constant, the
velocity required to move a clast through drag increases as the square of grain diameter.
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